Santiago, Sep 16 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Chilean authorities on Wednesday issued a tsunami alert along some 4,000 km (2,400 miles) of the country’s coastline after reporting a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, while the U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 8.3 on the Richter scale.

The Chilean Navy’s SHOA oceanographic service issued the tsunami alert for the country’s central and southern coast. According to the National Seismological Service of the University of Chile, the quake struck at 7:54 p.m. and had its epicenter located 36 km (22 miles) west of the town of Canela and at a depth of 11 km (7 miles).

SHOA also ordered vessels to sail at least 10 nautical miles from the coast.

At least 10 aftershocks, some of them of magnitude 6 have been felt so far after the powerful quake, which shook the country from Atacama in the north to the Araucania zone, in the south. EFE

Deaths, Injuries and Tsunami Wave Arrivals

National newspaper La Nacion (in Chile) reported on the unfortunate death of a woman in who was struck after a sizable masonry piece separated from a balcony and fell on top of her. This incident took place in Illapel. A similar incident was reported in Monte Patria.

Also in Illapel, which is part of the Choapa province, nine people were reported injured after walls and roofs crumbled. The disaster has left more than 10,000 homeless in this community.

Another death was reported in Maipu, a district of the capital city, where a man was struck by cardiac arrest during the earthquake. There were no early reports of injuries, although residents were crowding emergency rooms with cardiac complaints, which sadly took the life of two more people in Valparaiso.

Oceanographers from the naval service in Chile reported that more than a dozen non-destructive tsunami waves had arrived in communities from Valparaiso to Juan Fernandez.

No injuries were reported as the tsunami waves reached coastal communities in Chile, where the highest swells were estimated at more than four meters and caused some structural damage. Residents of some communities in Brazil reported feeling the quake.